Railway-tie



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110.451,781. Patented May 5,1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARMON V. SLUTZ AND THEOPHILUS SLUTZ, OF ALTA, IOWA.

RAILWAY-TIE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,781, dated May 5, 1891.

Application filed August 13, 1889. Serial No. 320,573. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that we, HARMON V. SLUTZ and THEoPHILUs SLUTZ, of Alta, in the county of Buena Vista and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Ties; and we do hereby declare theA fol'- lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to an improvement in' railway-ties.

Hitherto there has been a class of sheetmetal ties known to the trade which consisted of alternately upwardly and downwardly projecting ties, the Iianges of which interlocked and the ties covered the entire bed of the track or only a part. Ties of this character possessed superior-ities in one way and another which those previously employed did not possess; but additional experiments and continual usage has resulted in demonstrating some defects in even these, and it is the object of our present invention to entirely overcome all of the objectionable features of previously existing inventions used for this purpose; and to this end our present invention consists in short sheet-metal ties similar in some respects to those above mentioned, but eut out at the middlein order not to completely cover the road-bed, the vertical portions of which are connected by suitable tiebars, placed edgewise or vertically, in connection with filling-blocks, preferably of wood, which partially or wholly iill the upper ties, the advantages derived being principally increased strength, solidity, stability, and rigidity, cheapness in construction ofy road, lessening the noise, lengthening the life of the tie, increasing drainage facilities, prevention of lateral movement, limited elasticity, and consequently less straining and taxing of the iron, lessening the settlin g of the ties or roadbed, and much saving of the rolling-stock.

The invention still further consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a portion of the roadbed with myimproved ties arranged thereon.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is a transverse section, and Fig. 4. is a detached view of one of the filling-blocks.

A A represent the plates of vmetal which constitute the ties. They are all made alike and of the same size, but arranged alternately, so that every other one lies fiat upon the ground and the alternating ones in the opposite direction, or with their backs upward to receive the rails. The ianges overlap each other, giving a double thickness, where the weight is sustained and great rigidity. The rails l l are placed upon the upwardly-projecting ties and held in place across the middle by the hook-plates 2 2, and these plates are secured in place, preferably, by the U- shaped bolts 3 3, as shown, or by any other form of bolt or device, as desired.

So much of the invention has been covered by previous patents, and before proceeding further a few of the most objectionable features may be pointed out, and, iirst, the falling of quantities of rain or owing of water on the bed often washed the dirt or ballast from beneath the upper series of ties, and as a result the entire weight and strain was thrown upon the downwardly-projecting ties; second, it was next to impossible, if not quite impossible, to ll the ties with ballast, for the reason that upon becoming dry it would shrink, crumble, and, by working loose, leave openings which were always increased in size by water. The loss of such ballast injures the bed and permits too much elasticity, and, furthermore, makes the strain unequal at different points, and, third, it required constant care and attention and the expenditure of too much money to keep the road-bed in repair.

These ties were formerly kept apart by means of flat tie-bars lying sidewise across the center of the track and secured at the ends to the top of the ties. The objection to this arrangement was that the rods did not settle in the ground at the center of the track, which resulted in their bulging up at the center with a tendency to change the gage of the track. This We obviate by placing the tierods 5 5 edgewise and securing their split ends 6 6 to the side or vertical portions of the ties about midway of their height. By this arrangement the rods not only sink readillylf, but they resist strain much more effectua y.

A still more essential feature of our present invention consists in the wooden blocks 7 7. These are preferably about half the thickness of the ties, and they are adapted to ft in the upper ones, about half-filling them, the grooves 8 8 being formed in their upper edges to' receive the bolt-heads and flanges of the metal plates forming the ties. The advantages derived from the use of these lilling-blocks of'wood are numerous. In the first place, they give firmness and stability to the track and also the road-bed by retaining the ballast in place and by forming an abutment laterally for the ballast, so that no danger of the track being shifted laterally is possible. Besides this, the blocks lessen or deaden the sound caused by passing trains, and it lengthens the life of the ties. Better drainage is possible, as there is no possibility of the blocks becoming washed away, and hence by properly rounding up the bed in the center the water is all carried off over the lower or downwardly-projecting ties, and thus greater efficiency results in every way. In conclusion, we may remark that the ties made in this manner may be easily transported, as they are quickly and readily taken apart, and,furthermore, they may be lifted and inserted beneath the rails without much difficulty.

It isevident that slight changes might be resorted to in the form and .arrangement of the several parts described without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention, and hence we do not wish to limit ourselves to the particularconstruction herein set forth; but,

I-Iaving fully described our invention, what We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a railroad-tie, the combination, with two series of rectangular hollow-metal ties open at the ends and on one face, the ties of each series being arranged side by side in relverse order, of the tie-rods, arranged as described and connected at their opposite ends to the vertical portions of the ties, substantially as set forth.

2. In a railroad-tie, the combination, with iron ties secured together at their edges so that adjaccntones project in opposite directions, of filling-blocks inserted in the upwardly-projecting ties, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with sheet-metal ties secured together at their edges so that the adjacent ones project in opposite directions, of wooden lling-bloeks fitted inside the upwardly-projecting ties, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with iron ties projectingalternately in opposite directions and tierods extending edgewise between the ties and connected at their ends to the vertical portions of the ties, of filling-blocks fitted inside the upwardly-proj ecting ties, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with sheet-metal ties ysecured together at their edges so that the adjacent ones project in opposite directions, of wooden filling blocks, the latter being grooved at their edges to receive the joining edges of the ties, and tie-rods forked at their ends and fastened edgewise to the vertical portion of the ties, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with sheet-metal ties secured together at their edges so that the adjacent ones project in opposite directions and hooks for securing the rails to the ties, 0f wooden filling-blocks fitted inside the upwardly-projecting ties, substantially as set forth.

7. In a railway-tie, the combination, with a plate of metal turned down at its sides and a block wholly or partially filling the space between the sides of the plate, of bolts secured to the depending sides of the plate and hooks carried by the bolts and arranged to hold a rail on said plate, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARMON V. SLUTZ. THEOPHILU'S SLUTZ.

Witnesses:

W. H. PIERCE, WM. V. LEMON.' 

